WNBA legend plays down Caitlin Clark's 'dominance'

Caitlin Clark is rewriting the record books as a rookie in the WNBA, but Sheryl Swoopes has refused to deem the Fever guard's exploits as "dominant."

Swoopes — a former three-time WNBA MVP and four-time WNBA champion — feels Clark has a ways to go before dominating the league in the same vein as MVP front-runner A'ja Wilson.

On the "Gil's Arena" podcast , Swoopes admitted that Clark's rookie averages of 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists were "hell of a numbers" but "not dominating" stats that strike fear in opponents.

"To me what Caitlin has been able to do in a very short period of time is very impressive," Swoopes said. "After the [Olympics] break, she's [playing great] but still not dominating, but she's a different player than she was in the first half of the season."

As Swoopes pointed out, Clark has been on a tear since the WNBA season resumed in August, averaging 24.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 8.9 assists over her last 13 games. During that period, Indiana has maintained a record of 9-4, which would rank second among all teams in the league. Before the break, Clark averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists and the Fever had a losing record of 11-15.

The midseason turnaround has propelled the Fever to the third seed in the East, setting up a possible first-round playoff matchup against the Sun. However, depending on how the final stage of the regular season shakes out this weekend, Clark's squad could face the two-time defending champions, the Aces.

While Clark will get another chance to prove Swoopes and other naysayers wrong in the postseason, she has already done enough to etch her name in history by setting the WNBA's single-season rookie records for points, assists, three-pointers made and double-doubles by a guard.

From this point, everything else seems like a cherry on top.